MiVote uses people power to determine Australia's energy mix

A new democratic movement is asking Australians to decide how they want to meet their country's future energy needs.

A few tweets between tech innovation heavy hitters Mike Cannon-Brookes and Elon Musk sparked a flurry of digital discussion around Australia's energy mix last month.

But MiVote argues one very crucial thing is missing from the conversation - the equal and informed voice of all Australians. Their solution is to use their app, released in February, to directly inform, then ask all Australians 16 years and up how they want to approach Australia's energy mix.

"Vote #3 will ask you how you want to prioritise the country's approach to energy" Jacoby said. "The question for this vote is: When deciding how we meet Australia's energy needs, do you want a solution that prioritises the environment, or consumer price, or the economy, or meeting our global obligations? Or some mix of the four."

According to a 2015 report from the Office of the Chief Economist, Australia’s energy mix in 2013–14 was comprised of oil (38 per cent), coal (32 per cent), natural gas (24 per cent) and renewables (6 per cent). Hydro is the largest contributor to renewable electricity generation but the shares of wind and solar have continued to grow. Wind generation grew by 29 per cent in 2013–14, and solar generation by 27 per cent.

The MiVote voting platform presents you with four options outlining different approaches the country could take. The options consist of well-researched information, reviewed by subject matter experts, presented in an easy to understand way, free from political spin or media bias.

Jacoby says that Australia's current system of representative government, particularly with the influence of party ideology and interest group money, is an ineffective and inefficient way of community decision-making in the 21st century.

"The system is broken." said Jacoby. "The MiVote app lets everyone vote on policy issues as they happen, instead of policy packages every few years. Because we believe well-informed people make better decisions."

The vote on Australia's energy mix will run from now until the end of the month using the MiVote web app. More votes are scheduled and a native app will be released in the app store and google play as MiVote continues to develop.

MiVote is an Australian democratic movement that launched earlier this year after five years of development. They will register as a party and run Senate candidates at the next Federal election. The public are encouraged to nominate future topics they'd like to vote on at http://www.mivote.org.au/nominate